One day a sailor

So now I have one whole day of sailing experience. Well, not really. I spent about 20 minutes standing behind the tiller of a boat that was barely moving. When the wind completely died away we furled the sails (they don’t come down anymore, just roll up into the mast and onto the forestay like window shades for the Jolly Green Giant), cranked up the motor and practiced things like docking and approaching a mooring buoy. Lesson #2; A slow moving 31-foot sailboat handles like a loaf of bread.

Lesson #1 was: a sail boat without wind isn’t really a sailboat. It really isn’t a powerboat either, though powerboat rules apply.

We did have a little wind at first, and with Deb at the helm the boat was tooling along at a nice clip with a pronounced heel – and that is just way cool. I spent a little time down in the cabin while the boat was actually under way. Water looks like its going by really fast when its that close, even if you are only doing a few knots. I couldn’t spend much time there as the “head” was giving off a noticeable sink, sort of like camping down wind of the port-a-potty.

All in all, sitting on the “stern pulpit” sipping some hot coffee, feeling the gentle motion of the boat, looking around at all the rigging strung across the deck and actually making a little sense of it all; I could almost envision calling such a place “home.”